The present invention relates to a light-emitting push button for operating purposes, for instance a number button on a telephone apparatus, wherein the push button includes a body which has been double-molded in two different plastic materials, of which one material is light conductive and the other is opaque. A light emitting device, such as a light emitting diode, is arranged to emit light on the underside of the press button, so that light will be conducted through the light conductive material and be emitted on the upper side of the button.
Light-emitting push buttons of the aforedescribed kind are known to the art. Although the majority of existing buttons provided with light conductors light up well, there is often an angle or angles of incidence at which the light almost disappears, depending on the line of sight. The lens requires free surfaces around the lens, in order for the light to be reflected from the sides and so as to obtain the best possible light yield at the top of the button. A light conductor integrated in such a double-molded button, for instance in telephone apparatus, makes it difficult to discern whether the button is lit or not when viewed in a direction towards the button, because the light is not scattered uniformly at the upper surface of the button.
This is because the material in the button and the lens is fused or migrated together by heat in the molding process, and the light reflections in this part is "extinguished" or dampened out. A light conductor which is completely molded in would dampen the reflection of light excessively.